Boycott hails record-breaker Cook

Geoffrey Boycott has backed Alastair Cook to greatly extend his record total of 23 Test hundreds for England.

Cook, England’s Test captain, reached three figures in the third Test against India at Kolkata to move ahead of Boycott, Colin Cowdrey, Wally Hammond and current team-mate Kevin Pietersen to become England’s most prolific centurion in Tests.

Geoffrey Boycott

Former England opener Boycott, commentating for BBC Radio Five Live, hailed a “terrific performance” by Cook but felt the landmark was inevitable. He said: “I don’t think it’ll be such a big deal to him, to pass Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey, myself and Kevin Pietersen.

“I think he’ll be close to 40 (hundreds) by the time he’s in his early 30s, then it depends how long he plays, he might get more than that.”

Boycott also praised the 27-year-old for breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of becoming the youngest player in history to complete 7,000 Test runs: “Tendulkar is a man of records.

Records are always meant to be broken. I am happy that an English batsman has broken his (Tendulkar’s) this record. Cook has a good cricketing brain. He knows how to handle pressure and play according to the situation,” added the former England captain.

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